Chapter 82
Chapter 82
“Trust your heart if the seas catch fire, live by love though the stars walk backward.”
EE Cummings
Joseph stood in the entrance of his office, only hours after his conversation with Amara, feeling as if someone had pricked him with numbing needles all over.
She was going to wipe out the entire werewolf race.
Joseph wasn’t sure anything had ever unsettled him more – and he wasn’t entirely sure why. It’s not as if werewolves had ever done him any favors. Their presence had only ever made his life harder, and yet…
Amara’s plan would result in the deaths of thousands of men, women, and children in one fell swoop. He’d have to be a psychopath for that not to throw him off kilter at least a little off kilter, right?
Except it wasn’t the thousands of innocents he kept seeing in his head.
It was only hers.
Killing off every werewolf alive included Rae too.
And that shouldn’t have mattered to him. If anything, her death would ensure nothing could ever come of their bond – whatever little of it remained. He wondered if that’s why Amara told him. It’s possible she knew about their mate bond, as well as his hostility toward the idea, and thought her plan might solidify his loyalty.
It didn’t.
The very thought of of Rae’s death made him want to lean over the tiny trash can in his office and hurl. That might’ve been the intense hunger he hadn’t satiated yet, but he could feel every cell in his body wanting to reject the idea.
And maybe it was just the mate bond trying to rear its head, but…
How could he condemn her to death? She might not have been a part of his life, but Rae had more spirit than anyone he’d ever met. She had friends, people who cared about her. It’d be a shame to deprive her pack – the world – of that kind of spirit.
Amara, in addition to whatever power she possessed on her own, had the backing of all twelve covens. She had the firepower to actually carry out this plan.
And while he wasn’t in any position to stop her, he could warn her. She deserved that, right? The werewolves deserved the chance to fight – if nothing else.
With a determined sigh, he strode across the hall to Dr. Hart’s office. Her eyes widened with surprise upon seeing him. “Joseph! You’re back!” Her eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Oh, you don’t look so good…”
He leaned against the doorframe, his head pounding with an intense combination of hunger and dehydration. “Can you cover my cases for a few more days? I have somewhere I have to go. It’s an emergency.”
He didn’t hang around long enough to hear her answer. He already knew she would do it, and as of now, he had more pressing matters to deal with. Who knew how quickly Amara would act on her plan? He needed to get to the wolves – to her – right away.
Fortunately, he’d been dragged to and from the castle enough times that he could make it there by memory.
🌘🌑🌒
The guards at the castle gates didn’t seem at all pleased to see him.
“You smell human,” one of them, a large, burly man with long hair, said.
After two days of traveling on foot (and surviving off nothing but jerky and a couple of water bottles he stocked up on), the last thing he wanted to do was argue.
“I’m not human,” he said with exasperation. “Or at least, not really…it’s complicated – and it doesn’t really matter. I need to speak with your Moon God immediately. He knows me.” He desperately needed a nap. Somewhere with big, soft blankets and maybe Rae’s warm, soft –
*Woah, woah, stop right there. I must be really fucking exhausted if I’m having thoughts like that,* he told himself.
The guard on the right, a shorter woman with biceps larger than his head, snorted. “Does he look familiar to you?”
The other guard shook his head. “I’ve never seen him before. Could be a trap for all we know.”
Joseph sighed. His head was pounding again. “It’s not a trap. I’m not your enemy, I promise. I have critical information that I need to relay to him immediately.”
“Well, I guess if you pinky-promise that you’re not our enemy, I guess we can just let you through,” the woman replied sarcastically, and he rolled his eyes.
He might as well have been arguing with the giant gate they were guarding, although he wasn’t sure why he expected any less. He hadn’t been here very long, at least not long enough for most of the guards to learn his face.
“This information could be life or death,” he said, “For all of you.”
“Sounds like something an enemy might say to gain access to our king.”
He swallowed. There was another approach he could try.
“I’m Rae’s mate,” he said. “That’s how you know I’m not your enemy.”
The shorter woman scrunched her eyebrows together. “If you’re going to lie, try to come up with something a little more convincing. We know Rae doesn’t have a mate.”
He wasn’t sure why, but something about that sentence – about the complete denial of their bond – made his stomach clench.
*But that’s what I wanted, isn’t it? I didn’t want a mate, some forced connection I didn’t ask for. Maybe it’s just the bond trying to mess with my head, and make me question my own decision.*
“Well, I –”
“Joseph?”
His breath caught.
Oh, God, had her voice always sounded smooth like honey?
He glanced in the direction her voice had come, and every thought fell out of his head.
She was more beautiful than he remembered.
And she was looking at him with those big, dark eyes, still so full of emotion, as she approached from the other side of the gate.
She stopped about five feet in front of him. “What are you doing here?” The last time he’d seen her, she’d looked devastated, like a shell of the woman he’d first met.
Now, she just looked confused to see him.
He opened his mouth to tell her what he’d come there to say, but the words died on his tongue. He couldn’t remember why he’d ever rejected this gorgeous woman in the first place, and why was she so far away from him? She should be closer.
“I –” His head was pounding again with a ferocity he couldn’t ignore anymore.
He made to move closer to her, just to close a little bit of the distance between them, when his knees buckled.
Spots danced in his vision, and the last thing he saw before collapsing was her concerned face blinking down at him.